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«[he Banishing iHinorftu of the iEoual iCegtan 
uitth a brief sketch of the ©rber. 



Ifleatr before (JThe ®hio Commanbery of the 
ICoyal ICegion 

April 4, mr, 



ba 



S, (E» Anus, M. a 

Hate 25reuet Captain anb Assistant 
burgeon H. S. Volunteers. 






The Vanishing Minority of The Loyal Legion 
with a Brief Sketch of the Order. 



Read before The Ohio Commandery of 
The Loyal Legion April 14, 1917, by 

S. C. AYRES, M. D. 
Late Brevet Capt. and Asst. Surgeon, U. S. V. 

The surrender of tlie Confederate army at Appomattox ended 
the four years bloody contest between the North and the South, 
and settled forever the (juestion of slavery on this continent. The 
booming of cannon ceased, and the people Aveut wild with joy. In 
every city, town and hamlet the same enthusiastic rejoicing pre- 
vailed. 

After four years of bloody war, witli its disappointing vicissi- 
tudes, at last the Union was saved and the country freed from the 
curse of slaver3\ What the people had hoped for and prayed for 
and fought for had at last been realized, and shouts of joy and 
triumph went up all over the land. 

These days and nights of rejoicing were destined to be few 
and to be followed by the deepest grief and sorrow. A foul assas- 
sin's bullet penetrated the brain of iMr. Lincoln, who was taking an 
hour of relaxation and pleasure after the strain of more than four 
3^ears of unparalleled responsibility. The depth and sincerity of 
this national grief cannot be measured or estimated. From bon- 
fires and cheering and music, and undisguised happiness to mourn- 
ing emblems everywhere on houses, public and private buildings, 
and streets, with flags at half mast, was a sudden and terrible fall. 



The day after President Lincoln was assissinated, a few army 
officers in Philadelphia came together to draft suitable resolutions 
respecting his untimely death. They formed themselves into an 
organization to be known as the Military Order of Loyal Legion of 
the United States. It became very popular and many of the leading 
officers soon took an active part, and the Loyal Legion grew until it 
included many of the prominent officers of the army and navy, who 
resided in the State of Pennsylvania. At first it was a local organ- 
ization, but soon Commanderies were organized in other states, and 
it was made national in its scope. State after state applied for 
charters to .estciblish Commanderies, until finally twenty-one Com- 
manderies were established in the dift'erent states of the North. 

The objects* of the organization tire in the following words: 

"The objects of this Order shall be to cherish the memories and 
associations of the war waged in defense of the unity and indivisi- 
bility of the republic; strengthen the test of fraternal fellowship 
and sympathy formed by compaiiionship-in-arms; advance the best 
interests of the soldiers and sailors of the United States, especially 
of those associated as companions of this Order, and extend all 
possible relief to tlieir Avindows and children; foster the cultiva- 
tion of military and naval science ; enforce unqualified allegiance to 
the General Government; protect the rights and liberties of Ameri- 
can citizenship, and maintain National Honor, Union and Independ- 
ence." 

The Oliio Commandery the 9th in number, was duly authorized 
and the first stated meeting held Feb. 7th, 1883. The other Com- 
manderies were organized as follows: Pennsylvania, April 15, 
'65, NcAv York and Main in '66, Massachusetts, '68, California in 
'71, Wisconsin in '74, Illinois in '79, District of Columbia, '82 and 
Ohio, 1883. Previous to this, there was a military organization here 
known as the Ex-army and Navy Society, which had a large mem- 
bership and held many interesting and spirited meetings. The 
Loyal Legion Avas organized out of this society and it then ceased 
to exist. 

The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of Ohio was installed 
on February 7, 1883, with twenty-nine original members. All of 

2 



these have answered the roll call Avith the exception of two, Capt. 
Foraker and our President-elect, Capt. Blair. It is a great staisfac- 
tion to know, that thi.s long deserved honor has at last been con- 
ferred upon one most worthy to fill it. 

Twenty-six members of the Pennsylvania Commandery came 
out to install the Ohio Commandery. They Avere headed by Rear 
Admiral Emmons, U. S. N., and among the distinguished officers 
was Col. John P. Nicholson, who has been the Recorder-in-Chief 
of the Order ever since its organization — rmay he live to be its Re- 
corder for many years to come. They were met at the station by 
a committee and escorted to the Burnet House. The banquet was 
held at 9 p. m. on the 7tli of February. The dining-room at the 
Burnet was never so gorgeously decorated. On one side of the 
room was suspended the word "Army" in white immortelles and 
on the opposite side, the word "Navy" in deep crimson immortelles. 
On the tables Avere the folloAving: a large six-sided fort, Avith Avails 
made of green hemlock and Avhite immortelles, surmounted by a 
minature cannon — a magnificent ship sailing on a sea of lilies — 
sAVords crossed on a bank of floAA^'eres and a floral cannon. The 
chandeliers Avere hung Avith Avreaths of smilax and loops of the same 
Avere caught up on the Avails. Thus Avas our order inaugurated 
with as good military material as could be found in the country. 

We point Avith pride to the distinguished officers, who have 
presided over our Order as commanders, let me mention Gen. Hayes, 
Gen. W. T. Sherman, Col. DaAves, Gen. Jacob D. Cox, Gen. Benj. 
Harrison, Gen. Hickenlooper, Gen. Cowan, Gen. Warner. We can- 
not recall this list, Avithout special mention of Col. Dawes, the most 
accomplished presiding officer and toastraaster the Commandery 
ever had. We put special emphasis on this fact-, that no other 
Commandery can boost of three Presidents, Hayes, Harrison and 
McKinley. 

Let me reminisce a little about the first annual dinner Avhich 
I attended, that of 1885. I joined the Commandery in May, 1884. 
and the second annual dinner Avas held February 4, 1885, at the 
Burnet House. Commander General Hayes presided at the business 
meeting in the afternoon and Avhile I Avas looking on and listening, 
he recognized a tall fine looking man, Avhom he called Capt. Morey. 



It took but a glance to see in the speaker, one of my old college 
chums and a member of Co. B. 20th O. V. I. in the first three months 
service, 1 soon made myself known to him and it was surely a 
cordial greeting which 1 received. I then hunted up Maj. Cham- 
berlin, who was in the same company and we three had a very 
pleasant reunion, as we had not seen each other since we were dis- 
charged from the service in 1861, a period of twenty-four years. 

Great preparations were made for the banquet and a large 
number of inviations sent apparently to all the leading Army and 
Navy officers then alive. It would be impossible to name them all, 
I can onl}^ mention a few — Gens. Hancock, Fairchild, Sheridan, 
Sherman, Chief Justice Waite, Admiral Porter, Vice Admiral Row- 
an, Rear Admiral Worden, Gens. Buell, Crook, Meigs, Doubleday, 
Schofield, Stanley, How^ard, Pope, Hazen and many others. 

Col, Dayton was chairman of the committee of arrangements. 
The surviving Cincinnati members of the committee are Maj. Hosea, 
Capt. Witshire, Maj. Fox, and Maj. Jones. 

Gen. Hayes presided and including five invited guests one hun- 
dred and twenty-seven sat down at the table. The menu was fine, 
blue points, green turtle soup, roast quail, sweetbreads, turkey salad 
and four kinds of wine, think of that compared with our menus of 
to-day. Mr. Zimmerman, proprietor of the Burnet House was a 
Prince of hosts, took great pride in doing the best possible for the 
Loyal Legion. We Avere given as a souvenir of the occasion a small 
brass cannon, cast especally for the occasion and gun carriage com- 
plete. Inserted in each cannon, Avas tlie rammer, with a sponge 
appearing at the muzzle. The rammer formed the staff around 
which was folded a small satin flag, on which M^as printed in gold 
the program of the evening. The gun carriage bore the legend 
Ohio Commandery on one side, and Loyal Legion on the other and 
the year 1885 Avas cast in the cannon. It Avas a real servicable piece 
of ordinance as I knoAv, for my boys attached it to a block of wood 
and had a lot of fun firing it, and it Avas a source of pleasure to 

them for a long time, 

• 

In the early life of the Order, meetings Avere held monthly and 
they also ha,d more papers read than Ave have now. In 1884, eight 



papers; '85, five papers; '86, seven papers; '87, six papers; '88, 
seven papers ; '89, seven papers. Of course there was an abundance 
of material to draw from then and the officers who had taken an 
active part in the different campaigns, were quite willing to con- 
tribute to the entertainment of their comrades. 

The Commandery now holds four stated meeting each year in 
addition to the annual meeting, which comes on the first Wednes- 
day of May. 

The papers which have been read before the Commandery, 
have been carefully preserved and bound and we now have seven 
volumes of such contributions, and they contain much of value to 
the historian. Nearly all the contributors of higher rank to the 
earlier volumes have passed aAvay. Genls. Force, Bates, Leggett, 
Hazen, Fuller, Cox, Voris, Stanley, Dawes, Doolittle, Beatty, Hick- 
enlooper are all gone, but they have left valuable pa.pers, touching 
their individual experiences in their army service. It is not only 
in these men of rank, men who commanded brigades and divisions 
and corps, that the Loyal Legion shows that it is slowly passing 
away, but in the loss of hundreds of officers of lower rank. Little 
by little the members of the first class have lost ground and now 
find themselves in the minoritj^ 

Many of the originals are approaching four score years and 
some have passed beyond that biblical period. During the last five 
years the average loss among them has been thirty-one, but that 
average Avill be increased from now on. 

In April, 1915, the originals of tlie Oliio Commandery drop- 
ped from the majority to the minority. At the present time the 
originals constitute 45% and the juniors 55% of our membership. 

It is interesting to note the status of some of the other com- 
manderies. In Pennsylvania the ratio is 36% originals to 64% 
juniors. In Massa,chusetts, 46% to 64%. California, 35% to 65%. 
New York, 48% to 52%. In Colorado and Iowa is 50% and 50%. 
In two commanderies only, Indiana and Maine, are the originals 
in the majority and that by only a small per cent. 



The last report from the headquarters of the commandery 
shows a told membership 6722 of which 43% are originals and 57% 
juniors. 

The only hope for the survival of the Order is in the enlist- 
ment of junior members. Were stagnation exists it means retro- 
gression and where the originals are in the majority, it shows either 
marked indifference to the Order, or that the veterans were lacking 
in sufficient number of sons to perpetuate their names. 

One word about the third class or honorary members — only 
two are still living and they belong to the California Commandery. 
Ohio had ten honorary members, three of them residents of our 
city, Mr. Jas. E. Murdock, Robert W. Burnet, Aaron F. Perry. You 
are familiar with the sacrifices which Mr. Murdock made when he 
cancelled his theatrical engagements and devoted his life to the wel- 
fare of the soldiers. For four years he gave readings and recita- 
tions for the benefit of the soldiers in the field, but he did more 
he went down into the camps and entertained the soldiers there. 
His younger son Avas killed at Chickamauga, but his older son, Capt. 
J. E. Murdock of the 2nd 0. V. I. still lives in the suburbs and is a 
member of our Order. 

A fine portrait of Mr. Murdock painted by the poet-artist, 
T. Buchanan Read, hangs on our Library wall, a gift of Mr. Mur- 
dock 's daughter. The association of these two distinguished men 
recalls the poem of Sheridan's Ride, written by the latter and re- 
cited by Mr. Murdock at Pike's Opera House. It was on the 31st 
of October, 1864, when there was to be a grand rally for the election 
of" Mr. Lincoln. Tlie poem was written during the day and Mr. 
Murdock recited it in the evening before an immense audience. It 
produced a tremendous effect, the entire audience was electrified 
by the stirring words and the eloquent manner in which they were 
delivered by Mr. Murdock. The patriotic fervor of this poem im- 
mediately appealed to the loyal spirits of the North and it is one 
of the few poems will never be forgotten. 

Mr. Perry devoted much time in the critical period of 1861 in 
assisting Gov, Dennison, his former la.w partner, in matters of 

6 



inter-state affairs, Avhich required care and judgment in the chaotic 
condition of things. 

Mr. Burnet was active in the commission organized for the 
relief of soldiers and their families. A distinguished member of his 
Class was Hon. James Speed, of Louisville. He was a Union man 
— when it took courage to be one. He Avas a Avarm personal friend 
of Mr. Lincoln and was his Attorney-General. 

What is the gi'eat attraction which military organizations have 
for the veterans? The writer has been asked, "Why do you al- 
ways go to these meetings — you hear the same old war stories; you 
sing the same old songs; you mee the same old grizzled crowd." 
An answer to this was given by Gen. H. V. Boynton in response to 
a toast at aur annual meeting in 1902. The toast was the ''Soldier's 
World." I quote: "Only those who have been baptized under the 
Flag with the baptism of war can enter a world so real to us in 
which with the great armies of our comrades we live and move 
alone." 

"Ours was a costly citizenship, for it we gave the best years 
of opening manhood; for it we put aside life-plans, business inter- 
ests, family ties, everything that was attractive either to youth or 
maturer years, and gave it all without hesitation gladly and even 
with exultation, although our hearts responded a,s human hearts 
ever will and should, over such partings as sanctified our entrance 
into the soldiers' world. It is a world which none but soldiers ca,n 
understand or even measurably appreciate. Its emotions, its as- 
pirations, the sweep of its memories, the rush of the ocean tides 
of feeling, the gloom of its defeats, the joy and pride and exulta- 
tion of victories, the sorrows for its dead and the loves of its living, 
cannot be counterfeited by any skill of man. There can be no 
naturalized citizen in our soldier world — no form of petition, certi- 
ficate or oath can secure it. No court has power sufficient to confer 
it. Our world is a creation by soldiers for soldiers alone." 

There is indeed a certain charm and fascination about the 
meetings of our' soldiers, which no one outside of the army can 
appreciate. When a man holds up his right hand and swears alle- 
giance to tlie country and the Flag, he sets himself apart from 



citizens. He becomes a unit in a great fighting machine we call an 
army. He offers his life to save the country. When he returns to 
civil life again, is it any wonder that he loves to talk over the 
stirring scenes of his army life? He meets no more willing listener 
than a comrade who has liad similar experience and can sympathize 
with him. 

At our stated meeting in March, 1890, Gen. John Beatty, who 
has only recently answered the last roll call, made a short after- 
dinner speech, in which he said: "There is no man in this coun- 
try, nor any other, as far as I know, so rich, so scholarly, so high 
socially, so distinguished politically, as not to take pride and plea- 
sure in tracing his lineage back to a soldier. If there has been a 
soldier in the family, it is the one thing the family never forgets, 
the one thing the biographer never fails to mention. In brief, 
the father's military record is the son's patent of nobility. I never 
envy a man Avhen he tells me his father or grandfather was rich, 
but when he tells me his grandfather was with old Etham Allen 
at the storming of Ticonderoga, or with Washington a,t Valley 
Forge. I bow instinctively to the old man's blood running in the 
young man's veins, for I know he has something no one can take 
from either himself or his children, the spirit of the true knights 
and gentlemen of the earth. 

"If men could obtain your military record, your knowledge of 
the movements of the great armies, your recollection of great battle- 
fields, without incurring risks of bodily harm and by simply paying 
money for it. there would be many buyers; but do you think there 
would be anj^ sellers? Not one." 

An appreciation of the Loyal Legion is given by H. Perry 
Robinson. Literary Editor of the London Times, in the Twentieth 
Century American. In Avriting what the civil war had done for 
America, he says : 

"It is already beginning to slip into the farther reaches of the 
peoples' memory, but twenty-five years ago the echoes of the guns 
had hardly died away, the minds of the people w^re still inspired. 
It was an aAvful and a splendid experience for the nation. It is 
not necessary with Emerson 'always to respect war hereafter,' but 
there have been times Avhen it seemed to me that I would ra.ther 



be able to wear that little tri-colored button of the American Loyal 
Legion than any other decoration of the world." 

We are living in the most critical period of the world's exist- 
ence — I make this statement with full consideration of all the great 
upheavals and revolutions and wars which history relates. All the 
great European nations are engaged in a titanic struggle and blood 
is flowing as it never flowed before. 

It is Imperialism .against Democracy and it must be a fight 
to the finish, and it can and must end in only one way. We have 
been drawn into it and must do our share to bring about a peace 
which will mean Universal peace and put it beyond the power of 
one man to start such a conflagration. I ha,ve every confidence in 
the patriotism of the American people, they will rally to the de- 
fence of the country and show the world that they have not de- 
generated since '61- '65. 

During the Civil War we had much to contend with besides 
fighting the open enemy — there were copperheads and butternuts 
and Knights of the Golden Circle and spies and enemies every- 
where. There were many of them in our City and being a border 
town it was naturally a convenient place for plots and plotters. 

Rumors of foreign spies and enemies in our midst and open 
and disguised disloyalty, and plots against the pea,ce of our Coun- 
try are heard on every hand, and the time has come to act and 
resent the insults which an arrogant nation has offered us in order 
to draw us into this great maelstrom of war which is spreading its 
unheard of and undreamed of cruelties all over Europe, There 
will be a great National uprising to repel this foreign danger and 
the response will reproduce, in a difi^erent way however scenes 
which manj^ of us remember in 1861. 

Will we sing, we are coming Woodrow Wilson three hundred 
thousand more as we used to sing, we are coming father Abraham 
three hundred thousand more? 

I have faith in the patriotism of the American people — they 
will rise to the occasion and will help to crush out the most dang- 
erous enemy to peace and justice and humanity and National morals 
which the world has ever seen. 



H 29 89 




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